Paediatricians and psychologists have testified to the mental and physical harm caused to children by detention. But separating them from their mother or primary carer is even worse; it may cause "insecurity, depression and anxiety" which lasts throughout life.

The recent six-week hunger strike by women in Yarl's Wood removal centre brought to public attention that many women detained inside are mothers whose children were taken by social services or other family members. Some face deportation and permanent separation, often after years of raising a family in the UK.

One mother tries to shield her seven-year-old daughter from the painful truth by telling her that she's "working away from home". She and many others speak constantly of their anguish at being unable to care for their children, many of whom may already be traumatised by violence in their home country, and experience depression, bed-wetting and fear.

An estimated 1.5 million youngsters suffer abuse each year in the United Kingdom, many of them while in care. This horrifying reality must not be added to by separating yet more children from the mothers who love them and whom they love. Ending the detention of children has to mean ending the detention of families.